Any easy way to get seeds out of Jujube pits? I got some “fresh” jujubes (unripe Lang I’m assuming) at the store and am hoping there’s some viable seed in there I could use for rootstock? My stone fruit method is attacking the seam on the sides with a hammer after they dry for a few days.
Used pliers last year on stone fruit. It worked, but I ended up with the hammer back in my hand. May work better on the small jujube seeds.
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I usually clip the ends of the pits just to make a flattened area and then I use vice grips to crack them. Using the vice grips puts a “governor” of sorts on the squeeze so that you don’t crush the seed. I’ve never tried a hammer but they are awfully small pits to use a hammer on. I have better luck when I put pressure on the pit vertically in the vice grips.
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sorry to hear about your HJ. While it may just be an isolated symptom this year due to growing conditions, which hopefully wont manifest next year, it is also possible that the hj graft is subjected to latent rejection by the rootstock. It’s a rare occurrence–only witnessed it for myself twice, and it couldn’t be “solved” with repeated grafting over several years.
Not much is known re: compatibility between jujube rootstock and scionwood. There are cultivars that tend to be dominant towards random rootstock(the vigorous growers–li, sihong, lang, etc), and there are those either passive or outright laggards(HJ, sugarcane, contorted, etc).
conversely, there will be rootstock that aren’t too excited about getting topworked with grafts.One of the seed-grown(of unknown parentage) rootstock i planted at a friends house has been annoyingly inhospitable towards grafts, even those grafted on all its upright stems. Quite stubbornly sending out new shoots from below the grafts which then dominate the tree. Even sihong grafts were laggards on that rootstock. Your rootstock seem to respond by sending out shoots from its rootball.
there are also “rootstock” that seem to be happier/more productive when grown on its own roots. Vegas booty being one of them.
Anyway, maybe just allow your HJ one more growing season to check if the condition continues to manifest.
Was finally successful cloning Mr Meyer’s HJ 2 yrs ago, and recently noticed that it is very productive on its own roots. Too productive in fact-- prioritizing fruiting more than it does vegetative growth.
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I agree with Katy. Vice grips are the way to go. I don’t bother to clip the tips- I just crush them off with the pliers.
I’ve also noticed that if I dry the pit for at least a week or two, it cracks easier, rather than mushing.
I’m not sure if unripe seeds would be viable.
Also, seedlings of Lang? I guess it is OK for rootstocks, but I wouldn’t think the fruit from the seedlings would have a good chance to be tasty.
I have a bunch of pits still around from last year (stored in 1 lb glass peanut butter jars) if you’d like some. Or if you want new ones in a few months.
I’ve noticed the same thing about a few trees this year. Particularly the large (maybe 8" trunk circumference) Li at the most productive rental site. As the year went on, it added leaves, but no fruit at all, including the grafts. While many of my Li are somewhat non-productive this year, it wouldn’t explain why none of the grafts (including Orange beauty, BV1) also have no fruit. It also has a Dong graft on it with no fruit and the Dong and Sandia grafts on the neighboring trees have plenty of fruit.
A few other jujube trees also seemed a bit light on leaves this spring, though I don’t remember which ones. Many of my trees have small/tiny crops, but I’m not sure if they are the same trees which were slow to put on a lot of new leaves.
This is a bit late for a lot of fruit drop. Normally, I get a lot of drop very early on (July) when the tree decides it can’t support so many fruit. Some varieties (like Shanxi Li) are more prolific droppers, initially giving me the sense that a lot of fruit was coming, before changing it’s mind.
I got the first fruit 3-4 days ago on a girdled (last year’s girdle) Sugar Cane branch. Today was the first day I got any fruit from non-girdled branches. So far, Sugar Cane, Fuicuimi, Black Sea have all had a few fruit. And there isn’t much fruit on the (very young) tree, but a BV1 looks to be almost ripe as well. The other early variety I would normally check on is Autumn Beauty, but there is very little production on all 5 of my AB trees.
While some trees are pretty empty, I have quite a it of
Sugar Cane, Honey Jar, Bok Jo, and Black Sea. I don’t remember if this was Bok Jo or Sugar Cane.
While many of those trees are quite productive, not all of them are so heavily laden with fruit.
Here’s a Honeyjar which could see a reduced yield for another reason. I accidentally let a loofa/sponge vine use it as a trellis. But, my wife likes them and I sometimes have trouble getting them started, so I just left it there.
The loofa can get very large, but you should pick them when they are still relatively young, or they won’t be good to cook (all stringy and seedy). Here’s one I missed at home (using the old swingset/playhouse as a trellis). I just noticed it today and it is huge- probably a couple feet long and quite wide. I missed the window for it to be good to eat, so I will probably just leave it there and see if I can get some seeds out of it for next year.
My gloved hand is under it for scale:
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I have a terrible selection of tools and ended up going the hammer route. Either the seeds were barely developed slips I couldn’t see…or they were all empty. They were already a very disappointing purchase from the store, so eh. XD
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For whatever reason that tree is not feeding its fruit. Graft incompatibility or root damage or something else it is evidently hurting in some way. My original Li just died suddenly and broke off at the graft site and it was 5-6 years old. It suckered a lot too.
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Bob
My wife also like to cook loofa so I grew 2 vines on the fence for her and oh boy they produced so many that I have to give some away. Since all my jujube trees are in second leaf at my new home so only a few fruits on some trees so no issues with fruit drop yet.
Tony
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I ate a lot of loofa growing up, esp. sliced, dipped in batter and deep fried 
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@jujubemulberry , @BobVance and @k8tpayaso
Thanking for your points.
I went out to took some pictures. This “problem” Honey Jar was grafted and planted in 2017. It grew well until last year when it started to see an increase in suckers and decrease of leaves but it was not alarming.
This year, the situation has gotten worse. Noticeably fewer leaves than Sugar Cane (and other jujubes near by.
Hereis the HJ on the left and SC on the right. Not the best pic but HJ, in real life, has fewer leaves.
Also, Honey Jar leaves are mostly cupped.
Sugar Cane leaves are fully open, healthy looking.
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Hey are Black Sea jujubes really small for you folks? Mine are the same length as honey jar but more narrow like a football in width. This is my first year of getting any.
My crop overall is low this year, a few Bok Jo along with the BS. HJ didn’t set at all.
Could this simply be a symptom of right cultivar, wrong place? Here in NM, my HJ in “wetter” spots tend to curl when we get a period of moisture during hot season. Seems the rootstock is vibrant, so maybe try another graft? Maybe really give it a good cut back this winter and see how it responds?
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My first few crops of Black Sea were all small fruit, but this year I have a range of sizes. Some have been significantly bigger than Honey Jar and very tasty. My Bok Jo and Honey Jar generally are my most productive jujubes along with Xu Zhou, but this year we had a long, hot dry spell mid-summer, and it’s So (from Just Fruits & Exotics) and Chico that have produced the most fruit.
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hj has a tendency to have rolled leaves @mamuang. Dont worry about that. But you;re right, hj typically should be clad in denser foliage growth compared to sugarcane. Have to say nonetheless that your tree does not seem to look so bad. It may just be an isolated malady(still unbeknownst to scientific community) or growing condition affecting its performance.
Just keep snipping off the suckers so they won’t get the chance to photosynthesize.
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I am not sure it is an issue of right cultivar, wrong place. If so, shouldn’t a problem showed up sooner than 6-7 years?
Also, have not heard of people in the east coast complained about this issue before?
@jujubemulberry - this is the second of its decline. I wonder about a delayed rootstock grafting compatibility.
I used to have a nectarine graft that worked perfectly for 3 years before the graft was dead in year 4.
i see, and concur with you that it may actually be compatibility issue since it’s been languishing long-term. You could try grafting it over with a more vigorous cultivar to see if it will do better, and maybe just get another rootstock to graft with hj and plant at another site. Hopefully better results with hj in a few years, and if still none by then, i–or someone else here- might have a self-rooted HJ to send your way 
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My wife has been buying small potted ones for the last 3-4 years. Often, only 1-2 makes it. This year, I figured out that I needed to move them to 1 gal pots for a while before planting them. This year all 4 made the transition well, though most of the vines spent a long time growing before producing. Now, there is actually a lot of fruit on massively (40’+ for some) large vines.
Any experience with saving seeds? I’m a bit worried that the random squash (not sure if it is a winter squash or a gourd) from the compost pile could have pollinated 2 of the vines and watermelons at a rental could have pollinated the other 2.
During the early season I think that all my Honey Jar had cupped leaves. It is a good characteristic to ID HJ with. But it isn’t normally like that at this point in the year, so I’m not sure what would cause it. It will be interesting to see when your HJ ripens. Maybe it is just really really far behind schedule. That would explain the cupped leaves and small fruit dropping.
I wouldn’t have any worry that Honey Jar does poorly in our area. I’ve got at least a dozen Honey Jar trees and none seem to be unhappy like that.
If there is anything wrong, it is a more individual tree specific issue, possibly similar to the Li I described above.
It’s a low year for me as well, in that certain sun-sensitive cultivars aren’t producing. Stuff like Bok Jo, Black Sea, and Honey Jar are just fine.
2022- Great year, the most types ever fruited
2023- OK, but a lot pulled back, like Mei Mi going to almost zero and Chico dropping a lot. Still a lot of So.
2024- Even worse than 2023. Most Chico to zero, with a few on one tree. No Mei Mi and many So dropped to almost zero (with a few notable exceptions).
Black sea fruit is small, but I’d say it is generally equal or greater than Honey Jar. But, if the tree is having trouble supporting the fruit-load, Black Sea seems to reduce the fruit size, rather than lowering the brix. As opposed to Sugar Cane which produced normal sized fruit with lower brix. At least that is what happened to me last year at a renal where they both over-set.
Black Sea over-setting:
I think we missed that long sunny period this year in the NE. Chico and So are two of the cultivars with greatly reduced fruit set. Two of my 15+ So have good set- the 13 year old beast which I chopped the top half off of this year and replaced with seedling grafts (it pull the energy into fruit and has a lot) and the So at my most productive rental. It also has heavily loaded Sihong, Redlands, Sugar Cane, Goose Egg, and Sandia grafts, so it is just all around productive. There are another 3 So at another rental with some fruit and the other 10+ have only a few each. In past years, it was generally a productive cultivar, so something about the weather this year is really limiting it.
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Anyone here growing Winter jujube variety?
I bought a container of the Winter fruit since they looked good and large. It has very good taste, and the fruits are much larger than sugarcane or honey jar.
Do you know if the seeds will come true if I plant them out?
Winter translates to “Dong” in Chinese, but I’m not sure that you really got that variety, as I don’t think it would be ripe yet, even in more Southern locations. It ripens for me around November 1st.
Dong is a high-quality variety, though by the time of this pick, 3 weeks later, it was starting to decline.
It is bigger than Honey Jar, but probably similar to Sugar Cane in size. At least, the ones I grow. Sandia is a slightly earlier-ripening version of Dong (maybe a week earlier).
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